Directed by Li Xiaofeng
Produced by Shen Yang
Screenplay by Li Xiaofeng, Wang Mu, Pan Yu
Based on a novella by Lü Yao
Cinematography by Joewi Verhoeven
Music by Drew Hanratty
Edited by Liu Yueyue
Starring Li Jiaqi, Li Haofei, Chen Jin, Wang Yong, Xin Peng, Li Huan, Chen Yongjian
Story:
Baocheng, central China, the early 1990s. Li Xiaolu (Li Haofei), the daughter of a construction worker, arrives as a transfer student at Baocheng High School and immediately bonds with the rebellious Wang Xiaobing (Li Jiaqi), the class monitor. Xiaobing doesn't get on with her mother, Xu Wanqing (Chen Jin), a devotee of Huangmei Opera who teaches at the school, and is distant with her father, Wang Yinghua (Wang Yong), who is separating from his wife and moving to the provincial capital due to his affaire with another woman. Depressed, Xiaobing one day walks into the river and is saved from drowning by Xu Jie (Xin Peng), a fellow student who studies martial arts. He is friendly towards Xiaolu, though she tells Xiaobing that she's not interested in him. The two girls now have a very close friendship but, when Xiaolu insults a chemistry teacher (Ding Pei) in class, she is expelled and transferred to Yingcai High School. Xiaobing worries whether they'll lose touch once they're separated. Some time later, Xiaobing has transferred to a nursing school; visiting Xiaolu at her new high school, she gets upset when she thinks Xiaolu is romancing a fellow pupil. While training as a cadet at a military academy, Xiaobing, now 16, falls for her instructor, Li Danyang (Li Huan), who rejects her in a friendly way before being transferred. Later, aged 18, she starts working as an intern in a hospital's gynaecological and obstetrics department. She still dreams of joining the army to be with Danying, though her mother tries to make her see sense. She contacts Xiaolu, who tells her she's mad. And at a gathering of her family, relatives and former high-school teacher Lin (Chen Yongjian) to discuss her behaviour, Xiaobing completely loses control.
Shot on Arri Alexa Studio and Arri Zeiss Master Anamorphic primes (35mm, 50mm, 75mm) and Angenieux anamorphic zoom.